Expect the expected on 'Big Brother'

"Big Brother" 8 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday, CBS I prefer to call this show "Big Bother," as it sucks up an enormous amount of the TV landscape during the summer without giving us much of a return. The show is badly in need of a complete makeover, but instead we get little format tweaks that don't add much. This year, viewers will vote to give one player each week a special power, and the Head of Household will nominate three for eviction in the early weeks.

So we're stuck with another year of 16 wannabe actors parading around for the cameras, and our focus wandering from the game itself to who is hooking up with whom and wondering which Houseguest will stir things up with the annual racist/sexist/homophobic controversy.

There are no Orange County contestants this year, and no returning favorites from past seasons. We do, however, get season 13 winner Rachel Reilly's younger sister, Elissa Slater.

"So You Think You Can Dance" 8 tonight, Fox Last week's friendly "meet the top 20" episode – which introduced 19-year-old Jasmine Mason of Placentia as one of the finalists – gives way to the first true competition episode tonight. The first eliminations will take place July 2.

"America's Got Talent" 9 tonight, NBC It's more, more, more for the auditions tonight. Expect more feel-good acts like the American Military Spouses Choir and more exotic oddities sprinkled among the countless magic acts, stunt teams and dance ensembles. Seen a winner yet? Neither have I.

"MasterChef" 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox Last week's double dose was a mix of the interesting and the annoying. We loved seeing the chefs being tossed a box of exotic mystery ingredients: That's the kind of challenge that makes cooking contests so fun to watch. But did we really need to wreck the second half by giving "Glee" a useless cross-promotion? Howard and Bime hit the road – minor surprises, perhaps, but neither was going to win the season.

"The American Baking Competition" 8 p.m. Wednesday, CBS I'm learning a heck of a lot about baking techniques from this series, but I wish the producers could figure out a way to amp up the drama – perhaps by putting more obstacles in the bakers' way. Part of the problem has been the predictability of the eliminations. There have been absolutely no surprises to date, and Effie and James seem destined to be the next two to go. Perhaps the tension will arrive at the final hour.

"Hell's Kitchen" 8 p.m. Thursday, Fox Last week's cliffhanger left us waiting to meet the team of all-stars who will take on the final five in this week's challenge. It's all part of the absurd stretching going on to make this last until July 25.

"HGTV Star" 8 p.m. Sunday, HGTV We're already down to just six designers after three weeks, although we must wonder if in reality we're already down to one. Brooks Atwood has won two of the first three challenges and seems like the runaway favorite so far. His nutty-professor style would bring some welcome seasoning to HGTV's increasingly bland menu of hosts.

"Food Network Star" 9 p.m. Sunday, Food Network Team challenges don't seem to fit the very individual nature of "Food Network Star," which made Sunday's movie challenge a disappointment. Still, we can't argue with the ejection of Lovely Jackson. Using pre-made pizza dough for doughnuts is grounds for immediate dismissal.

"Whodunnit?" 9 p.m. Sunday, ABC This new mystery-solving series has echoes of "The Mole" – one of the contestants is a serial killer picking off the others one by one – but it is a poor substitute. The action is hard to follow, and the identity of the killer seems oddly unimportant.

"The Bachelorette" 8 p.m. Monday, ABC Sadly, we remain a few hours short of being able to roast Desiree and her host of beaus for their behavior last night. Please catch up with my thoughts at my blog, ocregister.com/blogs/watcher